HOUSTON, Texas – Evan Karakolis won the C-USA Championship in the javelin to help lead the Owls to a ninth place finish at the C-USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships Sunday evening at Holloway Field and Ley Track.

Karakolis won his first career C-USA title on the final throw (69.06m) of the javelin event, beating ECU’s Matthew McConaughey, who had just taken the lead a throw prior to Karakolis’ with a heave of 68.24m. The victory by Karakolis, his first of the outdoor season and third of his career, was the first outdoor title by Rice in the javelin since moving into C-USA.

“I’m really proud of the way our guys came out and battled this entire weekend,” Rice head men’s track and field coach Jon Warren said. “This is an extremely tough conference with a lot of depth but our guys competed hard and we had some results to really be excited about moving forward.”

Will Firth placed eighth in the 5000m (14:58.22) to earn one team point while freshman Erik Maher also recorded his second-best throw (52.50m) of the season in the javelin to pick up a point for the Owls. William Roberts (8th-1500m-3:50.52) and Filip Drozdowski (7th-110 hurdles-15.48) also earned points for the Owls.

UTSA won the team championships with 172 total points, followed by UTEP (136), ECU (124) and Louisiana Tech (68).